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A Not So Fresh Start
Moving On Wow, It's 11:00pm already? I always lose track of time when I'm working. "Hey Gyo, I think I'll call it a day." "Fine, boss. I think I'll stay a bit more, I'm not done analyzing these samples." "Well, good luck. My brain needs some rest, and a lot of booze, you should come! HAHA!" "Umm, I don't think booze is actually good for your brain." "Aaah come on, don't be such a workhorse! Let's go grap a couple of drinks, maybe even some beautiful ladies!" "Workhorse?" "Come on Gyo!." "Fine, if it gets you to stop YELLING AT ME!" "Sheesh! Quite the temper, eh boy?" "I've politely asked you, literally a thousand times to stop calling me "BOY". I'm older than you!" "Yes yes, come on! Grab your stuff and let's go." As he was grabbing his stuff, Umori Kenshiro stopped in his tracks, and looked at the floor intently, as if somehow trying to observe what was below them. "Heh...guess the gig is up." He then went to his desk, opened a bottom drawer, and from it he pulled out a large briefcase, and a small metallic apparatus, which had two buttons on it. "What are you doing?" asked Eren Gyo, Kenshiro's assistant and an expert in bio-engineering. "Listen to me Gyo. I think we have been found out. As I speak, Escaria Rita is walking up the stairs to our office, followed by at least fifteen more individuals. That can only mean... she knows the truth." "What!? Are you joking? No, it must mean something else. No, no, no, no! This can't be happening. What will I do know. No, no!" Gyo was freaking out. Kenshiro looks at him, grabs him by the neck and pins him to the wall. "Listen to me you coward, I have an escape plan. But I need you to pull up your pants, grab your stuff, and stand behind me!" Just as Kenshiro was finishing up that sentence, the front door is smashed open, and a beautiful, armored marine woman enters furiously, with ten other armed marine soldiers beside her. Behind them, five men dressed in lab coats stand just behind the smashed door. "KENSHIRO!!" The woman yelled at the top of her voice. "You will not get away with this, Kenshiro! You have betrayed my trust, you have betrayed the Marines and the Government!...I never", her voice began to break down for a moment. "I...never expected you would go to such lenghts!" Kenshiro analyzed the situation briefly. He recognized the five men with lab coats at the entrance. They were scientists who worked in the lab and had helped him and Gyo with many experiments. "Ohoho...so these were the rats." said Kenshiro with a serious look on his face. "Don't ignore me Shiro!" As she said that, Rita smashed a nearby table with her heavy axe spear. Kenshiro directed his gaze at Rita. "Tell me why? Why did you kill Tristan and the others!? Weren't the prisoners you were permitted to experiment on enough? You had to go and kill fellow Marine officers!" Kenshiro took a deep breath, and sighed. He looked at Rita, who with every minute that passed, was gripping her axe spear tighter. "My dear Rita, please, don't get so emotional. Although I understand why you're so upset. Truth is, I wanted to tell you, but I knew you were going to be against the experiment, so, well, I, WE, did it in secret." "ARE YOU INSANE!" Rita lifted her axe spear, and with a powerful swing, smashed the axe into the wall at her right. Gyo, who had been hiding behind Kenshiro, let out a small shriek as the wall was smashed, which prompted Kenshiro to shock his head in disappointment. "Shiro", said Rita, calling him by the nickname she gave him out of trust. She seemed to had calmed down a little. "Umori Kenshiro, I, Commodore Escaria Rita of the Marines, place you, and your associate, Eren Gyo, under arrest, for unsolicited and illegal experimentation, and subsequent murder of twelve marine officers caused by said experiments. Also, for your deep connections with the Underworld and your involvement in the founding of the Wung Family. I ask both of you, to surrender yourselves peacefully and quietly." Kenshiro just stood there, without uttering a word. "Shiro...Shiro...Ken, Kenshiro...Kenshiro!" "Woah!" Kenshiro suddenly woke up, he abruptly sat down, and grabbed his head with both hands. He was dreaming of the events that had happened three days ago. ''I keep reliving that moment. Guess it was quite intense. '' "Kenshiro!", yelled Gyo who was sitting right before him. "Gyo! What is it!? Man!" “Hey, you’ve been sleeping for a while now. We’ve been on this island for two days. Are we going to hide here forever?” Kenshiro grabbed his white and green stripped hat, he shook off a little dirt it had on it, and put it on his head. “You’ve always gotten on my nerves, Gyo. But you’re right. It’s time to keep moving. After all, the whole purpose of coming here to Zen was to retrieve my savings box.” “Well...Good for you! You had enough freedom in your job that you could make underground deals and even had the time to hide your dirty money in an uninhabited island. Sucks for me.” “Calm down. I’m giving you a bit of money so you can start a new life. I’m not as heartless as you think.” “Says the guy who murdered in the name of “research”...But...How much money are we talking about?” “I don’t know. Does twenty million berries sound enough?” “Twe-twe-twe!” Gyo could not pronounce a single word after Kenshiro’s offer. “I-I-Is that o-okay?” “Settle down Mr. Stutter. I got much more than that, and besides, you’ll need that much in order to hide well.” Gyo gulped. He thought that maybe forced retirement wasn’t so bad, and that Kenshiro wasn’t as cruel as he thought. “Woah. That was unexpected.” Said Gyo. So where are we hiding for our fresh start?” “Oh. Sorry, you must be mistaken. I am NOT going to hide. I’m going to embrace this new lifestyle.” Said Kenshiro. “What does that mean!?” “It means what I said! I’m becoming a pirate and sailing the sea!”, exclaimed Kenshiro. “Are you delusional? I mean, I know you’re strong and all, being a former Cp9 agent, but are you really going down that path? You know, the Marines are going to be gunning for you. You KNOW they don’t tolerate renegades.” “Heh. I know it all too well, Gyo. After all, I got sent out to take care of a few defectors back in the day! But don’t you get it? I’m a man of phases, and now this phase is being free. Anything is up for grabs here! Yonko, Pirate King, Shichibukai, Best Swordsman. In this new stage, the only thing holding you back will be your own power and ambitions!!” “Right... Wait. So that means...we are parting ways!? Are you kidding me!? There’s no way I can survive in the New World seas by myself! I get that you’re all excited by this phase thing, but here I am, terrified!”, exclaimed Gyo as he stood up and began to sweat uncontrollably. “Gyo! Relax. Sit down and listen. We’ll soon get off this island and depart to Nassau. I got a friend’s Vivre card that’ll lead me there. After we arrive, then we’ll go our separate ways. You’ll be safe there.” “Nassau? But why there? Man, that’s a pirate paradise, I’ll get eaten alive!” “You’ll have money. You could buy protection and rent a nice room to stay.” “But again, why Nassau?” Asked Gyo as he sat down again, finally calming down a bit. “Well, I got business there. After I transferred to the Marine Science Unit, I got involved in an underground deal, and I sold off my sword. I got word that it’s currently there in Nassau. Also, I want to buy a ship. And maybe take some time and train a little, I think I’m a bit rusty.” “Rusty? You sparred every week with Commodore Rita and other higher ranked marines, you're an experienced Haki user, and she always got furious because you never went serious on her! You even taught her how to use that Soru technique!” “Yeah, yeah.” “Whatever. And you also mentioned a ship, what about the one we have, the one stolen from HQ? You went as far as to completely change it with your devil fruit.” “Keep it. Or sell it. Don’t care. That was only to escape. If I hadn’t had that ship ready and hidden, we couldn’t have escaped as quickly as we did. Now let me sleep, we leave at dawn.” Failure and Resentment “Commodore. We’ve been searching for various days. There isn’t a single sign of them. We should probably return to base.” Escaria Rita was looking at the horizon aboard a Navy Battleship. “I understand. Let’s turn back. We have failed, and I take full responsibility.” “Commodore”, said a Marine soldier. “Don’t blame yourse-“ “Nonsense!”, exclaimed Rita. I had them right in my grasp. And I let them escape. I let my emotions get the best of me. I’ll be the one to face Fleet Admiral Kurama, and receive punishment alone.” Escaria Rita walked back to the cabin and sat on her chair in her office. Moments later, Gila, a Marine Petty Officer, walked in. “Commodore Rita. How are you feeling?” “I apologize for my sorry state. I’m not acting as someone of my rank should.” “Permission to speak freely?” “Granted”. “Commodore. I understand you had a close relationship with Umori Kenshiro. But, you have to realize, that the way things went, he had already planned this. I understand you feel betrayed, but don’t punish yourself even more over this. You did your best.” “Sigh”. Rita looked up at the young woman, and smiled at her. “Heh! I really am in a sorry state, to have a Petty Officer kick some sense to me.” Gila chuckled. “You’re right. But even so, I was still naive. I thought a handful of soldiers and myself would be enough to capture him. I seriously underestimated him.” “You couldn’t have known he had planted explosives inside the five scientists behind you. He had the perfect chance to escape. Which begs the question, how did he manage to implant explosives inside them without their knowledge?” “Probably through an injection, or maybe a pill of some sort. Just as he implanted those poor marine officers with powerful drugs without their knowledge. I’ve seen him do those things. But everytime it was on criminals who deserved it.” “But, Ma’m, then you could be-“ “Don’t fret. I already requested a medical evaluation to everyone who has ever been in contact with Kenshiro in the last couple of months. I’ll get evaluated as soon as we arrive.” “Okay. And will a bounty be put on his head?” “I don’t think so. At least not yet. I’m sure the Government would want to keep it a secret for now, that a former agent and scientist has gone rogue. Maybe if he causes a ruckus from now on, then they’ll have no choice.” “Seriously!? A secret? But...He killed twelve marine soldiers on his experiments, he detonated five scientists, killing along three more marine soldiers, and also destroyed four marine battleships with his ability in order to prevent immediate pursuit! This man is atrocious!” “I understand your concern Gila. Why did you think I was acting the way I did just a moment ago?” Gila gasped, and immediately lowered her head in apology. “Forgive me! I was so selfish to tell you what I did before realizing all of this!” “Raise your head soldier. You have nothing to apologize for. You did well. Truth is, I was doomed to fail from the start. I had been investigating the mysterious marine deaths, and when I confronted those five, they told me everything. And I was so furious and hurt, I took those who were on duty nearby and rushed to confront Kenshiro...” Rita sighed. “It was late at night, and I acted rashly. I should’ve taken at least one or two Captain ranked or above marines with me. I thought I could handle him by myself, that was a grave error...” “But, the guy is a genius, he’s a scientist. He probably had many escape plans in his head.” “It isn’t just that he’s a genius, did you know he was a former member of the CP9?” “Umm, kind of. I’ve heard rumors. I've seen him in the training sessions at HQ, and If I hadn't known any better, I'd mistake him for a Vice-Admiral.” “Well, the rumors are true. All of them. He was a Government killing machine, trained since age 9. His current strength is comparable to high ranked marines. The only reason he didn’t fight me was because it would’ve attracted attention.” “Do you think that, umm, he would’ve defeated you?” “Sigh...I don’t know Gila, probably. There are so many things I didn’t know about that man. I never saw him get serious in any fight I witnessed him in, not even when we sparred weekly. I always tried to push him to the edge, to show me his fearsome side from his older days, but he would match me while holding back and not even using his devil fruit. Even with the tougher guys, he'd clash equally with them and stop the match before ever getting serious.” Gila opened her eyes in shock. A cold shiver began to crawl up her spine. “Do you get it now, Gila? A dangerous monster has been released out there. He was capable of all of this damage, even while he was “contained”. Now those shackles are off, and the whole world is his little playground. And I assure you, out there, he won’t hold back.” Departure Gyo felt a slight tickle on his face. He opened his eyes, just to find a huge beetle right on his face. He shrieked as he had done the night of their escape and jumped crazily, swatting the bug off his face. “Yahahahahaa!!” Kenshiro was sitting in a nearby rock, laughing loudly at what just had transpired. “Did you do that, Kenshiro!?, yelled Gyo. “Well I tried to wake you up several times. Nothing worked.” “And you thought putting a bug on my face was the best option?” “Yahahaha! Definitely the best option. Now, forget about that! Grab your stuff, I already prepared the ship. We’re leaving for Nassau.” Gyo was talking angrily to himself. Moments later, both men had already boarded the small ship, and set sail for their destination. “Hey, Gyo. I have a confession to make.” Gyo was eating an apple and almost choked on it when he heard Kenshiro said that. Never in all the years they had worked together had Kenshiro made an approach like that, not even while drunk. “Umm. Sure, what’s on your mind?” “So, I was actually going to detonate YOU that night.” Gyo definitelly choked on the apple this time. When he recovered, he yelled to Kenshiro. “You what!?” “You remember the detonator I grabbed? It had two buttons on it. They were detonators for two different bio-bombs I had developed. Hehe...it was merely devil’s luck that those five scientists were there, and that coincidentally I had implanted them with the other bio-bomb I could actually detonate with the other button.” Kenshiro smiled at Gyo. “But I guess it all worked out in the end, right? Here, drink this, it’ll destroy the bio-bomb from your bloodstream.” Gyo said nothing. He grabbed the small vial, while he just contemplated jumping off the ship and ending it all.